THE OTAGO CENTRAL RAILWAY. PUBLIC MEETING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2004, 21 July 1892, Page 20

THE OTAGO CENTRAL RAILWAY. PUBLIC MEETING.

A public meeting, convened by the Ofcago Trades and Labour Council, of persons favourable to the vigorous prosecution of the Otago Central railway was held in the City Hall on Tuesday night. There was a good attendance, the floor of the hall being well tilled, while there was also a considerable sprinkling in the dress circle. Mr Judge, vice-president of the Trades and Labour Council, occupied the chair. The Chairman said he need hardly remind those present that the meeting was held under the auspices of the Trades and Labour Council. As a member of that body he had been asked to take the chair that night. The object of the meeting was to strengthen the hands of the Otago Central Railway League. This league was doing very good work, and it deserved the thanks and support of the whole community^ He had no doubt that they would all agree as to the necessity of pushing this railway ahead, as it would open up for settlement the largest and most valuable areas of Crown lands in the colony. A large portion of this land was valuable for agricultural settlement, and a very large extent of it was excellent pastoral land. When the railway was sanctioned by Parliament 14 years ago, a promise was given that it would be constructed as far as Lake Wanaka by the year 1884. But now— in the year 1892, or eight years after — what did they find ? They found that only about 40 miles of the railway had been completed. But had the Otago Central Railway League been in existence years ago he had no doubt but that the line would have received more attention from Parliament. — (Applause.) The press and the people of the colony might differ on other subjects, but he thought that they should show that on this one subject they were all of one mind. — (Applause.) He thought it was the duty of the whole community, especially the wage-earners, to unite in urging upon the Government the necessity of pushing ahead the railway. He would now read some letters he had received. The mayor wrote: — "The Secretary Trades and Labour Council. Sir, — I am very sorry I shall be unable to attend the meeting this evening re the Otago Central railway. I trust you will have a large assemblage of the public, and more particularly of the working men, and that resolutions will be carried enthusiastically in favour of this line being prosecuted with vigour. Its speedy construction will affect the working and the artisan classes more than any other. Nob only will it be the means of giving work to the ordinary. railway labourers, but also of finding employment for a very large number of stonemasons, ironworkers, and others.— l am, &c, Chas. R. Chapman." Mr Wallace, of the Congregational Church, King street, wrote : — " I am sorry that a prior engagement will prevent me from attending your meeting re the Otago Central railway extension. Allow me to congratulate your council in this matter, and that your meeting may be a successful one, and your efforts fruitful, is the desire of, yours 3incerely, A. H. Wallace." JVIr Vincent Pyke wrote—" I have been, and am, pretty unwell, but even though the penalty were death I will be at the meeting to-night. Mr John Ramsay, of Hyde, secretary of the Farmers' Club, wires, in reply to my invitation, that he will come by the first Palmerston train, arriving at 8.10 p.m., and asks me to meet him. I will bring him to the meeting and introduce him. This will make me late. — Yours truly, Vincent Pyke." He wouWhow call upon Mr Halley to move the first resolution. Mr Halley said the resolution he had to propose was one which he felt quite sure would not only meet with the approval of all present, but would be approved of by every right-thinking man and woman in this colony. In order that they might judge with regard to that for themselves he would read it to them. The resolution was as follows :— " That this meeting desires to express its sympathy with the efforts now being put forth by the Obago Cenbral Railway League with the object of pushing on rapidly the construction of the Otago Central railway to its completion."— (Loud applause.) He should not be compelled to use any long or strong arguments to secure their support in favour of the resolution. Need he tell them what was the object of this league being brought into existence ? The gentlemen who had banded themselves together to get this line carried on, like true colonists, acted from no motive other than a desire to promote the public good. Their sole object was to have the line brought to a successful finish. It had been said that this railway, or any other midland railway in Otago, would turn out to be a huge folly— that it would involve the expenditure of a very large sum of public money, from which there would be no profitablereturn. He dared say that they hadof ten heard it remarked that the line would not pay for the cost of the axle-grease consumed by its locomotives. These and many other wild assertions had been made over and over again, bub yet it goes without saying that they were false and without any foundation whatever. — (Applause.) The line already, although it had so far only traversed the most unprofitable portion of country that it was likely to traverse, was paying working expenses, and over and above that there remained a balance, which might ultimately go towards paying the cost of its original construction. — (Applause.) This went far to prove that the railway, so far from being a huge folly when completed, was likely to prove a very huge blessing to this part of New Zealand, and one of the most profitable assets that the Government were ever likely to possess.— (Applause.) The speaker concluded by urging upon capitalists, pastoralists, agriculturists, and labouring men to unite and induce the Government to push on the construction of the line. There was not the slightest doubt but .that, if they agitated sufficiently, they would get what they wanted.— (Applause. ) Mr Cabnie seconded the motion. He said

there was no doubt that the Government had been very tardy in pushing on the construction of the Otago Central railway. At the present about 2,000,000 acres of land was virtually locked up in the interior of Otago owing to the want of easy and cheap communication, and the operations of the squatter and the digger were hampered to a very great extent. This showed the necessity that existed for going on with the construction ot the line. If the people of Otago were not up and doing, in the matter of getting the line pushed on, Invercargill would come forward and press their claim ', and probably they would be more successful in getting what they wanted. — (Applause.) The molion was then put and carried almost unanimously, only one hand being held up against it. Mr R. Clark submitted the next resolution, which was in the following terms — " That not only in the interests of labour, but also_ in the interests of all residents in the provincial district of Otago, as well as for the benefit of the colony, the completion of the Otago Central railway is a work which should no longer be delayed." In doing so, he said he believed that the line could be carried nearly to its completion — to the whole extent of 180 miles — for little more thanhad been expended on the first 40 miles to Middlemarch. The line would open up 2,500,000 acres of land of various character, and 500,000 acres of this land were admirably suited for small country holdings, about the necessity of which so much had been said by the public men of the colony during the last few years. The lands were well watered, they were rich by nature, they were rich in mineral wealth and in timber, and they were admirably adapted for the growth of cereals and fruit, and he held that the opening up of this country would not only benefit the province of Otago, but would be a huge benefit to the colony generally.—(Applause.) The construction of the line would promote settlement, the promotion of settlement would increase products, and tho increase of products meant increase of consumption. Throughout the colouy there were large industries, employing a large number of men, utilising a large and expensive plant which was to a certain extent unremunerative, because we had not population enough to cause a demand sufficient to make the industries pay ; but he believed that the completion of the line would benefit every industry in the colony, and consequently every industrial labourer would be benefited by it. He might say that every capitalist in the country, every professional man, every business man, and every private individual would be benefited by the opening up of the line. There were two distinct kinds of benefit to be derived from the completion of the railway — direct and indirect — and he held that the indirect benefits were by far the greatest ; but the population of Otago had been very slow to grasp that fact, for if they had understood it as they ought to have there would not have been standing room in- the hall that night. — (Hear, hear.) They heard it said, "The completion of the line and the necessary expenditure of the capital simply means more taxation for the benefit of the landholder, — why not let the persons through whoso land the line would pass pay the taxation ? " He agreed wi th those who said that, because the land through which the line would pass belonged to all of them, — it was Crown land, — and therefore, in asking the Government to go on with the construction of the line they were asking for what would be for the general benefit and for their individual benefit. The other night, as he was returning home, he went into a meeting at Knox Church, just in time to hear Mr Booth make the remark, " A man with a conviction is worth ninety-and-nine men with only an opinion ; it is the men with convictions who are shaking the world." The representatives of the Trades and Labour Council were present that night to lay their views before the meeting, because they believed that all in it had opinions, and they_ wished them to have convictions — strong convictions — of the paramount necessity of constructing tae Otago Central line to the finish, and if every one of them went away with a strong conviction of the necessity of completing the railway to Lake Hawea, then they would be able to shake the little House at Wellington till the full sum was voted for the completion of the me. — (Applause.) At this stage Messrs Vincent Pyke and J. J. Ramsay (Hyde) took their seats on the platform and were greeted with loud applause. Mr L. Shaw, in seconding the motion, referred to the remark of the previous speaker that over 2,000,000 acres of land would be tapped by the railway, and said if they took a belt of land from here to Christchurch 12 miles wide, they would nob have two million acres there. Let them think of that amounb of land, which those who were in occupation of the soil could not occupy so profitably as they might be able to, as the expense of getting the produce to market after it was harvested was prohibitive. The speaker was iv the district for some months last year, and was very much surprised with the crops he saw reaped there. He saw one or two paddocks in which the crop of wheatyielded over 60 bushels to the acre — wheat that fetched the highest price in the market. He produced before the meeting a sample of wheat from Blacksbone Hill for which 4s a bushel had been refused a week ago in Dunedin, and a sample of wheat grown in the Strath-Taieri district — wheat of a class that was worth 4s 6d a bushel in Dunedin, which was the highest price which had yet been reached this season in Dunedin for wheat. The first crop was such as the townspeople did not know the value of, because it was too expensive to send it to the market. A fortnight ago he was talking to some young people who were leaving the district — for America and elsewhere — because they could get nothing to do. That was a state of things that should not be, and if there were a railway into the country, instead of people leaving the district, they would be going to it in hundreds and thousands, for there was room for thousands. — (Hear, hear.) He held it was their duty now that they were up in arms to stand to their guns, and if they had a united Otago there was not, ami never had been, a Government in New Zealand that could stand against their just demands, and before five years were over the railway would be completed to Lake Wanaka. — (Applause.) • The resolution, on being put to the meeting, was carried with only one dissentient.

Mr J. A. Millar moved — "That in the opinion of this meeting satisfactory and permanent provision ought to be made for the construction of the line, by setting aside for the payment of interest, and a sinking fund, half of the revenue received by the colony from Crown lands in the district through which the line has been surveyed, the capital amount to be advanced on such security by some department under the control of the Government." He said the resolution suggested a plan by means of which the Government could carry on the construction of the line at a very rapid rate. As they were all aware the colony had set its face against borrowing, and most of them thoroughly approved of that. — (Applause.) There were, however, two descriptions of bor rowing: and borrowing for luxuries was unjustifiable; whilst borrowing for necessaries might be justifiable. They would be justified in borrowing for a railway, but would not be justified in borrowing for the purpose of putting

up handsome buildings in different centres of the colony, lie proceeded to say that they must make some permanent arrangements for carrying on this line. If they simply relied upon surpluses it might be a very long time before they got it completed. The resolution, however, suggested a way in which the line could be carried on at once. He might say that the rentals derived at present from the land through which the railway would run amounted to L 60.000 per annum. They were told a short tinfte since by the Colonial Treasurer that the Government had a very large sum of mdney in trust funds for which he had great difficulty in finding investment at 5 per cent., bub the Otago Central railway was one of the best things in which the money could be invested. They must not forget the fact that up to tho present time over L 260.000 had been voted for the railway and had been speut on other works. Now it was suggesbed that L 300.000 should be taken from the trust funds, and L 30.000 per annum set aside for the purpose of creating a sinking fund for the repayment of the loan ; and if the lino were gone on with, the rentals derived from the lands through which it went would be doubled in a few years. There were other means, of course, of constructing the line, but they desired to confine whatever borrowing had to be done to the colony.— (Applause.) Although they might have to pay ■£ per cent, higher rate of interest than they might if they went to a foreign syndicate, still it was a great deal better to do that than to allow the money to go out of the country. If the money were taken from the trust funds, as was suggested, and 400 or 500 men employed on the construction of the railway, it could be completed in five or six years. It would give immediate employment to a large section of the members of the trades and labour organisations. It also meant permanent employment afterwards for men on the line, and it would increase the amount of employment for people in town. — (Applause.) Mr John Ramsay, of Hyde, secretary of the Maniototo Farmers' Club, seconded the motion. He would like to say, as one who knew the whole of the district through which it was proposed to carry the railway, that the completion of the line was a very necessary work. The people of Dunedin seemed to have wakened up very suddenly with regard to this line ; but the people of the country had always been alive to its importance. He was glad to have that opportunity of saying that he thought a great deal of the action of the Trades and Labour Council in regard to the railway. They had often been told in the country that the interests of the Trades and Labour Council were antagonistic to those of the settlers of the country districts ; bat he was glad to say that the council had taken a step which would show the country that such was not the case. — (Applause.) He hoped that the action of the council that night would be a bond of sympathy between workers in the country and workers in town, and that a link would be welded which no force could break. — (Applause.) He went on to say that too many people had to leave the country, not because the railway could not be pushed on, but because the Crown lands were not opened. If, however, the railway were pushed on, the people would raise their voice and the lands would be opened. Mr J. Neil said he had travelled all over the Ofcago Central district, and he could say it was a perfect sanatorium. He hoped the Government would see the reasonableness of pushing on this line, because it would be highly .profitable, and. we should all gain the benefit of their doing so. — (Applause.) The motion was then put and carried unanimously. Mr H. Rodda — in moving, "That this meeting pledges itself to do all in its power to push on the work" — justified the action of the Trades and Labour Council in moving in the matter of the Otago Central, and said he was pleased to have the opportunity that night of denying the statement, which had been made till they were sick of it, that the town was against the country. What interest was it to them, as workers in the town, to be against the country ? Had they not all, in town and country, identical interests ? If only for the sake of self, in the interests of the town, they were present to advocate the prosecution of the line. They recognised that if they got this splendid country opened up by the railway, so that the population might increase and that the people who were already there might have facilities for the further development of the land which they as pioneers were courageous enough to take up, and if the district were thickly populated, then the residents would come to the town for what the workers here were willing and waiting to make for them ; and yet all the industries were languishing at the present time because there was not sufficient demand for the manufactures. They were not there that night to advocate a railway to the moon, whose passengers would be return balloonists — (laughter) ; they were not there to advocate a railway to bring in coolie or kanaka labour ; they were not there to advocate a political railway to some sugar-cane district ; but they were there to advocate the opening up of a railway through a very productive country. It was not to their advantage that there should be a few sheep and " rouseabouts " and a few station managers up there — ■ it was to their advantage that the district should be divided into small farms and closely peopled ; and they were told that every station to which the railway was carried meant the " bursting- up "of a run, and that would be for the general advantage of the people. — (Applause.) The construction of the line would also give a great impetus to mining and to the development of other resources of the country. Where, he asked, had the opposition to the railway come from ? He thought the main opposition came from interested parties, and the evidence of that consisted in the fact that when the league went to a certain company in this town for a subscription the answer was, " No, it wiH be against our interest," — that was to say, it would mean the "bursting-up" of a run. The banks, and the land companies, and the squatters were the greatest opponents of the railway, and it "was high time that men were returned to Parliament who would not be like marionettes to be pulled by the wires by anyone. Many good men had gone into Parliament with the purest intention, but their wings had been clipped, and they had been told, " You dare not vote for that."— (Laughter.) The time had come, however, when they should send men who would be free from anything of that nature, who would legislate according to .their convictions of the necessity of the country. (Applause.) The Government must recognise that they owed a debt to the workers of Otago, and to the Trades and Labour Council, who had directed the body of workers so as to help to put the Government into power, and it was therefore nob asking too much to request all the influence of the Government towards carrying on the work. As there was a Liberal party now in power, with a good sprinkling of labour representatives in Parliament, they should strike the iron while it was hot before there was a. chance of the Conservative party getting back to power. — (Applause.)

Mr Slater seconded the motion. He said the reason why the line had not been pushed on in the past was that the people had. not

really wanted it. If they had desired it they would ha.ye united together and demanded it. It was 13 years since the railway was first commenced, and it had progressed at the rate of three miles per year. — (Laughter.) In the past this railway was made a sort of political football, and was kicked about in all directions. Now, however, they must not allow anything like this to take place. It had been said that for the first time in the history of politics in New Zealand we had united representatives in Wellington, He trusted that that was so. Then, if their representatives were united, the press united, and the people united, there was no reason why the railway should not be completed in a few years. He concluded by* expressing a hope that all would pledge their word that they would do all they could to get the railway constructed. — (Applause.) The motion on being put was carried without dissent. Mr Caradus moved — " That the chairman be requested to forward a copy of these resolutions to tho Hon. the Minister for Public Works and to the Ofcago members of the House of Representatives, urging on them to use their best endeavours in giving effect to the same." Mr Walker seconded the motion, which was carried. Mr Pyke, who was received with applause, rose to propose a vote of thanks to the chairman and to the Trades and Labour Council for the action they h*d taken on that occasion. They had done that night a work that was nob only for their own benefit, but for the benefit of their children, and of their children's children — aye, and of the unborn millions. — (Laughter.) If they knew how much trade and labour would be improved by the opening up of Central Otago for settlement, they would rush to Wellington as one man and demand it. — (Laughter and applause.) They were driving young men out because they would not open up the land; and at the bottom of all his agitation for the prosecution of the railway there was the great undeniable fact that the land must be opened up for tho use of the people. What was the good of so many acres if they were devoted i:*,to tussocks and rabbits ?— (Laughter.) He would have as many men in the country as there were rabbits, and as few rabbits as there were men. — (Laughter and applause.) He had seen trade and labour uniting hand in hand to bring about the prosperity of the country as nothing else could ; he had seen town and country united in this bond, determined in the issue they had at hand and heart, and they were bound to win if they were true to themselves. He did not know if it was worth his while to refer to tho Invercargill fiasco. — (Laughter.) He would say only a few words because "an enemy , hath done this." — ("Laughter.) He could see the double motive that was underlying j this — first, to prevent their getting the railway at all, and in the second place to make it appear in Parliament that they were divided as to the route. Who the enemy was he did not pretend to say, but suspicion was very rife. — (Laughter.) He had seen a forecast of that in a paper which had chosen to leave Otago and join Southland — the Tapanui Courier — which had advocated this for the last month, on the ground that it would be a shorter and cheaper and better route from Tapanui than by way of Middlemarch. The speaker had some figures there, and figures were useful. The distance between Alexandra — where all railways going through the oountry must converge — and Middlemarch was 110 miles, and the distance between . Dunedin and Alexandra, going by way of Tapanui, was 149 miles, and yet they had the impudence to declare that that was the shortest. — (Xaughter.) As to the country between Alexandra and Middlemarch that was treated a matter of no consequence, but what was the country they would have to go through if they adopted the Invercargill proposal ? From Roxburgh to Alexandra was 30 miles through a gorge, compared with which the Hindon gorge was a level plain. — (Laughter.) On one side was the Knobby range, 4000 ft; on the other side was the Old Man range, 6000 f t; and at the bottom there was a river, which, looking from the road, was like a driblet of water from a spout, big river though it was ; and if the railway were made through these 30 miles of gorge they would have to erect cranes all along the bank to let the produce down to the train. — (Laughter.) Yet they raised this ridiculous cry about taking a Tapanui route. It was simply playing a game of " bluff," and he was glad to see it fizzled out on the previous night. — (Laughter and applause.) Otago had always been accused of being very greedy, and it had not been greedy^ enough. — (Laughter.) Southland was crossed iv all directions with lines, Canterbury was the same, and the North Island was like an algebraic problem with them. In Canterbury there were 13 branch lines, in Southland there were eight, and in Otago there were only five, and there was a blank space iv the middle of the island Lo which there was no access except by horrible roads. He had no hesitation in telling them how the line had been so long delayed. It was because certain financial institutions had mortgages over the whole of the country fvom the Taieri lakelto Hawea, and if the line were to go on capital would leave directly. — (Laughter.) Settle the country and capital would leave because it could not get mortgages ! — (Laughter and applause.) He could name one of the tribe who was never absent from the House when the Otago Central was on the tcqns — earwigging Ministers, button - holing members, wearing on his face a fiendish expression like the face of Cain after the murder. — (Loud laughter.) Capital had sbopped the railway, and if it was going to stop all the public works of the colony he said, for God's sake, let capital get out of it. — (Renewed laughter.) It was nob by capital the country was first settled ; it was not by capital it was going to be advanced. There was one other thing he wanted to say. It was not to be supposed for one moment that the line was going to stop at Eweburn, which was a dry creek in the middle of the Mauiototo, with one house there — (laughter) — and that was what Mr Scobie Mackenzie had proposed as the grand terminus of the Otago Central line. That was not good enough for the speaker — he would not accept it, and thereupon they parted. Till they tapped the Dunstan the line would be no use, and Mr Blair's original data showed that the whole line between Middlemarch and Cromwell would not cost L 200,000 ; because once they were through that terrible gorge the line ran on, and the difficulty was to find something difficult. — (Laughter.) He was proud and pleased to see that the people at last understood what a benefit the line would be to them. — (Applause.)

Mr A. B VTiifi vtk (speaking from the gallery) said he had great pleasure in seconding the resolution proposed by Mr Pyke, and in congratulating the Trades and Labour Council on their taking a part in this great movement ; and he would also, if he would not be deemed presumptuous, congratulate the speakers who had addressed the meeting on the able speeches with which they had supported the several resolutions. He believed with Mr Slater that if the people of Dunedin had been in earnest about the railway they would have had it long

ago, but tho roason why thp people hart not been iv earnest was because of their ignorance — they did nob know what a heritage they possessed on the other side of the ranges that shut it off — but he was glad to see that the people of Dunedin and the working classes of Dunedin were becoming alive to their own interests. The resolution was carried by acclamation, and was acknowledged by the chairman, after which the meeting terminated.